Nancy: Chez Jean-Baptiste Cusson, Imprimeur, Libraire Ordinaire de S.A.R. sur la Place, au nom de Jesus. 1713. Small 8vo, a4, A-V8, X4, [viii], 327 pp, 6 engraved plates, contemporary calf, fully gilt spine, front joint cracked, cords strong, engraved armorial bookplate of “Francis Broderip” on front pastedown.
Furetiere casts ridicule on the fashionable romances of Madeleine de Scudéry and of Gauthier de Costes, and describes the everyday life of his times, especially the legal profession, of which he was originally a member. Because of its similarity to Paul Scarron's Le Roman comique, it was translated into English as Scarron's City Romance in 1671. With a self-conscious narrator who comments on his techniques and disregards the conventions of the novel, it, in many ways, anticipates Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy
Reference: Brunet Vol.2. col. 1425 Gay/Lemonnyer Vol.3. col. 1033